I know this is only her seventh day post-op but I am wondering if anyone knows if this new post op lean to the opposite side will or can be corrected by exercise or time. She has noticed it and is very upset:( I told her not to worry about it, that the main thing is that her spine is straight but explaining this to an 11 year old is hard. I am wondering if this is normal after surgery. We are going to ask about this at the doctors Thursday but I wanted to hear others experiences with this. I am trying to not let this bother me, but I guess I expected it to be straight. Maybe I am expecting to much too soon.:confused:

I am very thankful that her spine is straight and she did well during the surgery:D

Pooka1

02-16-2009, 07:51 PM

My daughter's shoulder asymmetry switched after surgery. It upset her a lot that her shoulders weren't straight immediately (and that her shoulder blade pain was still present two months after surgery). It straightened out over about two or three months as best I can recall.

It's very hard for a kid (or adult!) to stomach going through the surgery and not getting a perfect result immediately. I had nothing in my quiver to comfort her not having been through this myself. So I searched this forum for testimonials of kids who came out with opposite leans, high shoulders, etc. after surgery but corrected over time. That seemed to comfort her.

If/when the next kid is on deck, I'll at least have one personal experience to draw upon.

Good luck.

smileyskl

02-16-2009, 08:18 PM

Thank you Sharon. Maybe I need to research a little further back. I guess I haven't searched the older posts. I saw a few from the past year that mentioned it but never an outcome. Thanks for your input. At least I know that your daughters straightened out. Katelyn's exact comment to me was "I've went through all this pain and I look worse than I did before." She doesn't look worse over all but I can see what she means about her shoulders being more noticiably uneven. It breaks my heart for her even though I know we did the right thing by the surgery. I can't imagine being in her shoes at her age trying to see a reason for the pain. I just try to explain the other good benefits of the surgery. I hope that in a few months we can see a difference in hers as well. :)

Sharon

Pooka1

02-16-2009, 08:43 PM

The thing to focus on now is that it is too early to know the final outcome but it usually does straighten out as far as I know.

I was blind-sided by the amount of distraught my daughter had over the shoulders being not only uneven but in the opposite way. She was very worry that they "over-corrected" her somehow. But I kept telling her the spine looked straight on the radiographs I saw in the hospital. And from the testimonials, you just have to wait for the muscles to even out and settle into the new straight spine configuration. Even if it takes months.

What was NOT consoling to her was to hear her spine was straight and that her curve was stopped. That didn't compensate for the shoulders and it especially didn't compensate for the persistence of the shoulder blade pain. I don't know what that didn't go away much sooner since most of the rotation was removed. That's one of those mysteries for me.

I have come to think the best thing we can do is to tell these kids that it's too early to worry so soon after surgery. And that is absolutely true.

Good luck, Sharon

smileyskl

02-16-2009, 10:09 PM

Yes, Katelyn said that about over-correcting too, and talking about the curve being corrected is completely non consoling to her either (I tried that) I guess its just the age and perspective they have when they are young. Hopefully, it will get better. Maybe later she will understand that it could be MUCH WORSE. I am sure that acceptance will come in time. Its just too soon. Thanks.